Fitch notes that SGC's total needs for cash, net of expected proceeds from operations of Shah Deniz, South Caucasus Pipeline and planned divestments, will be close to $700 million in 2019-2020.

SGC's funding stems from a combination of debt and equity injections from the state, with the latter amounting to $2.4 billion as of end-2018.

The report noted that the reserves for the guarantee coverage had been appropriated in the annual state budgets for 2016-2018, and continuity of this practice in 2019 onwards is expected.

The Southern Gas Corridor is one of the priority projects for the EU and envisages the transportation of 10 billion cubic meters of Azerbaijani gas from the Caspian region through Georgia and Turkey to Europe.

The launching ceremony of the first stage of the Southern Gas Corridor was held in Baku on May 29, 2018, while opening ceremony of TANAP was held on June 12, 2018, in the Turkish city of Eskisehir.

The gas from the Azerbaijani Shah Deniz field has already gone through the first segment of the Southern Gas Corridor - from the Sangachal terminal to the expanded South Caucasus Pipeline.